


4AM

by to_the_wick (Jei_Stark)



Series: Pressure Suit [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Afghanistan, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jei_Stark/pseuds/to_the_wick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dirt under his fingernails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	4AM

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Pressure Suit fanmix covering the entirety of the first Iron Man movie, this fic was written to the song "4AM" by VNV Nation.

There was dirt underneath his fingernails. It bugged him a little, especially when working with small instruments and materials, but at the same time, it was a reminder of what he was doing. What _they_ were doing, now. That important week turned into an important few months, months of welding together odds and ends from missiles and guns and lord knows what else there was hiding in the scrap boxes just waiting to be used, waiting to be cobbled together into what Yinsen called _the suit_ and what Tony called the _Mark I._ (He wouldn't think about the specifics of future versions until much later. He only knew there would be, because that meant assuming they would survive.)  
  
Yinsen always washed his hands, but Tony purposefully chose not to. Aside from his occasional bad run-ins with water these past few months -- which was, to him, a very good reason to avoid water if he could help it -- there was just something about the grime that made him feel better, human. More human than he'd ever felt, if he was being honest with himself. And the more he pounded that metal down, the more joints he assembled, the more he found out about himself. For instance, he now knew why cars were so important to both him and his father.  
  
He also realized why people with too-clean hands bugged him: they didn't look like they ever really _lived_ at all, and it reminded him of himself.


End file.
